Orthodox & Pork

In Judaism, the restriction against eating pork is outlined in dietary laws known as the "kosher" laws. According to kosher laws, any animal that has both cloven hoofs and chews cud is kosher, but an animal with only one of these properties and not the other is considered to be non-kosher. Because pigs do not chew cud, they are not kosher.

In Islam, food that is deemed fit for consumption is termed "halal." According to the halal laws, pigs are forbidden outright. This has caused problems among Orthodox Muslims in terms of their consumption of the product gelatin, which is sometimes made from pork skin. The Orthodox community refuses to classify gelatin, or any foods in which gelatin is used, as halal.

Both Orthodox Seventh-Day Adventists and the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church forbid their followers from eating pork. This restriction is taken from a passage in the Old Testament of the Bible on which Jewish kosher laws are based. The Seventh-Day Adventists believe that the Old Testament is the best representation of God's dietary plan for humans while the Ethiopian Orthodox diet is heavily influenced by Islamic tradition.

Non-Orthodox members of Judaism occasionally may eat pork-related products, even if they abstain from eating pork directly. Conservative and Reform rabbis have considered gelatin, which is sometimes made from pork products, to be kosher. The reasoning behind this is that gelatin goes through a production process where it becomes inedible to both humans and dogs, therefore transforming it from a food into an item that does not fall under Kosher rules.